Osteoarthritis, known in the past as degenerative arthritis, is the most common form of arthritis. It is a joint disease that occurs after abnormality or damage of joints or without joint damage. The disease involves the deterioration of cartilage in the joints. Over time, the cartilage, covering the ends of bones in a joint, begins to break down and may wear away entirely, and the bones will rub together, causing pain. Due to pain in a joint, the surrounding muscle is used less, and muscle strength is thus weakened.
The usual symptoms of osteoarthritis are stiffness, limitation of motion, pain and joint deformity and affected joints display edema, hot flashes and abnormal enlargement of joints.
The prevalence of osteoarthritis is similar in men and women. However, in women a greater number of joints are affected, while men suffer from a higher frequency of hip joint invasion. The risk factors of osteoarthritis include aging (prevalence rates increase markedly with age), obesity, congenital dysplasia of the hip, accidental or athletic trauma, a history of arthritis, drugs, particular job groups, surgery and heredity. Osteoarthritis itself does not greatly affect one's life, but chronic osteroarthritis sustaining for a long period of time causes pain and deformity of the joints and thus reduces the quality of life. In particular, osteoarthritis in the knees is known as a major cause of chronic disability.
Various drugs and treatment methods have been developed and used for the treatment of osteoarthritis. The main goals of the treatment are to relieve pain, maintain the functions of the joints and prevent disability due to the functional disorder of the joints.
Currently there is no known medical treatment to reverse the effects of this cartilage damage. Rather the therapies for osteoarthritis are directed mainly towards treating the symptoms. In this regard, osteoarthritis has been treated using anti-inflammatory substances of the corticosteroid type (such as hydrocortisone and Betamethasone), which function to inhibit prostaglandin synthesis, as well as with a large number of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, such as diclofenac, aspirin and ibuprofen), which have an analgesic as well anti-inflammatory effect. However, due to their serious side effects, these drugs are used with special caution.
Thus, there is a continuous need to search and develop new methods for treating osteoarthritis.